Telesni projekti i regulacija normativnog tela: uloga fizičke kulture u Jugoslaviji
BODY PROJECTS AND THE REGULATION OF A NORMATIVE BODY: THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL CULTURE IN YUGOSLAVIA

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with the concept of physical culture as a project used for the formation of the Yugoslav identity and the creation of a new 'Yugoslav' body. I draw on the developments in the sociology of the body and the sociology of sport, discussing the ways in which the body is constructed by diverse discourses and practices. I analyze the activities of sports' associations and especially the work of The Yugoslav Association for Physical Training (Savez za fizičku kulturu Jugoslavije). The Yugoslav body was formed gradually, by regulating concrete norms and rules that defined body practices in the Yugoslav society and that represented an attempt to incorporate the socialist ideology into everyday lives. What was firstly defined discursively in fact had an impact on the real practices of everyday lives in the Yugoslav society, and symbolically formed a community of unified bodies and recognisable body practices. Having in mind Josip Broz Tito's proclamation that his birthday should be "the day of our youth, sport, young people and their continuing physical and spiritual progress" (1956), I point to the ways in which physical culture organized the Yugoslav society physically and aesthetically and incorporated movements from gymnastics into a broader concepts of united Yugoslav youth presented in public celebrations, the most typical being The Relay of Youth (Štafeta mladosti).

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